Today, having some free time on my hands, I decided to take a stroll through McCarren Park. What I saw (and smelled) was truly a feast for the senses. So much so I decided to take a breather at Jerzy Popieluszko Square. It was there that I had a most interesting conversation with a pair of gentleman regarding the deplorable state of our open space nowadays.

We all agreed that Jerzy Popieluszko Square was without argument the one of the nicest parts of McCarren Park to be found— but given what appears to be a lack of attention by our police and Parks Department it was rapidly becoming the worst. It was at this point one of these gentleman shared with me some very interesting information. Follows are the juicer bits for everyone’s edification:

The head honcho of Brooklyn’s Parks himself, Kevin Jeffrey, was purportedly going to inspect this very place today because…

I told him I had in fact attended this very meeting and filmed it. He continued:

Due to a lack of volunteers, this park is being left open 24 hours now.

As a result it has become a homeless encampment.

The Parks Department is purportedly looking for volunteers to open and close this park and the person to speak to is Jose Urena.

To wit I gave this chap a couple of business cards* and asked him that if/when he sees Mr. Urena I would like to speak to him about this. From there my new friend recounted a few choice incidents he has witnessed recently.

The woman whose image graces the beginning of this post kicked a man in the head yesterday and that fighting has become a more or less daily occurrence.

The hideaway of choice for our local homeless/unhoused’s libations are garbage cans, e.g.; they stash them under the trash. One such chap, upon urinating into one such receptacle, proceeded to gingerly retrieve a urine-soaked bottle of vodka from it and take a swig. We both agreed this chap had these two tasks out of order.

Now they pouring vodka into water bottles so as to deceive the police.

He has spotted bedbugs on some of the benches. Given that Greenpoint and Williamsburg have a bedbug problem— and our homeless/unhoused (which will moving forward be referenced to O.H.U.; as in Our Homeless and Unhoused) glean clothing and furniture which has been discarded hereabouts I find this totally believable.

The O.H.U. have started to use the hose at Automotive High School to do their laundry. Once “washed”, these articles of clothing are either hung on the fence or on park benches— or both— to dry.

The area in J. Po Square (as I call it) adjacent to Automotive High School is the O.H.U.’s lavatory (my nose can attest to this), although the men are not shy about simply urinating anywhere they please. The presence of women or children makes no difference.

He is starting to find used condoms in the morning.

It was at this point this gentleman, who should be noted sported a pack of cigars at his side, asked how I felt about the smoking ban in our city’s parks. Apparently (and despite scenes like this) a woman sitting 20 feet away took umbrage of him “lighting up”. She said it was bothering her. I replied that given what I have observed today I think there are more urgent issues than smoking to be found at our city’s open spaces. Then I felt something on my leg: something was biting me. I told my friend this and he showed me the source of what was afflicting me.

Here’s the deal, folks: I would like to see a handful of people to step forward and give Jerzy Popieluszko Square the loving care it truly deserves. If you are interested in starting a volunteer/”friends of” group for this clearly neglected/mistreated piece of public space please shoot me an email at missheather (at) thatgreenpointblog (dot) com. This is a fucking disgrace.

A couple weeks ago the Mister and I were dismayed— and amused— when we noticed a pedestrian crosswalk signal hanging on by a prayer from a light post at the above-mentioned intersection. We forgot to call 311, but no worries; it would appear one of our fellow Greenpointers had the presence of mind to do so because it has since been repaired!